The present invention generally relates to networks, and more particularly to forwarding Internet Protocol frames.
Computing networks provide for the sharing and transferring of information from one computing device to other computing devices. Various networking devices, such as routers, switches and the like, assist in the transfer of information between computing devices and/or computing networks. Transferring the information quickly and to the intended destination is often a concern. Additionally, with the increasing demand for vast amounts of information to be transferred under time and capacity restrictions make this transfer difficult. Network protocols, such as an Internet Protocol, have alleviated some of the concerns.
IP protocol specifies the format of the information or packets and the addressing of the information, i.e., an address labeling the packets. Networking devices interpret or identify the address to identify the intended destination and, if able, transfer the information to the destination. Otherwise, the network devices transfer the information to other networking devices that may be able to transfer the information to the destination.
The determination or identification of the intended destination from the address and the forwarding of the packets in such a way to assist the information to reach its intended destination is often time consuming. Algorithms and other techniques have been developed to increase the speed in which information is forwarded to the intended destination. However, some of these techniques are expensive monetarily, computationally and temporally.